End of stream in woodland garden

This is amazing, it must have been a huge project... How long ago did you do it and how long did it take? It must have been a while ago as the planting looks really mature and natural around it...

Lubeelu

We started it in the summer of 2001 and finished it in the late autumn of that year - so it is 15 years old now.

It started off as an idea for a 12 foot long stream, but ended up as 54 feet!! We put up a gazebo with lighting so that we could work in the evenings when we had finished our day work! We wove it through shrubs and trees that had been planted six years earlier, so some were fairly well established. At the top of the stream we created a mound for a waterfall - that took many huge rocks and 11 tons of soil.

There was only a 3 foot rise from bottom of the stream to the bottom of the waterfall so the bed of the stream rose in long, shallow, pools. We put reinforcing iron in the base of the pools and lined the base and sides with slabs of yorkstone. We then covered everything with a thick layer of cement. We painted it all with waterproofing sealant and it has not leaked so far in 15 years. Along the edges we transplanted moss from other areas of the garden and it has all mellowed to look quite natural.